Strings of Legacy
by saemi-san
Summary: Shelby neglected to tell Rachel a lot of things when they met. Most of which lie in their family's secrets. What happens when they come back to claim Rachel as their Family heir? What will Rachel do with this new twist? DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing.

**Author's Note:** I'm supposed to be updating my other stories...but I just had to write this down.

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><p><strong>String of Legacy<strong>

_Is destiny really what controls our lives?_

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><p><em><strong>The distant past echoes through strings of memory of more than twenty years ago...<strong>_

_The sound of rushed footsteps across the house accompanied by the thumping of heavy baggage that sweep the halls resonates through the air. The shouts of protest fill the conversation as a figure hastily makes its way towards the doors that lead to a taxi waiting only to be intercepted by two more figures. _

_The one who is abruptly making an escape from its pursuers come into the light with a heavy bag and stroller. The light of the outside shines into the face as it is revealed to be a young woman. A girl that is young enough to be a child but still old enough to be a woman. Not to be mistaken for any age than that of around seventeen to nineteen years old, is an attractive brunette with a thin figure._

_Tailing her is a man and a woman in the age of their forties. The man looked to be dressed in an expensive looking business suit while the woman's figure was covered in a fashionable black dress that was accented with pieces of jewelry and a pair of prada shoes._

_"Shelby! Shelby! Come back here this instant!" the man in distraught calls out to the girl._

_"No! Father, nothing you can say can deter me from my decision." said the girl who doesn't stop her steps as she does not even turn to face him._

_"Do you realize what you are doing? You are throwing everything away to pursue a mere dream!"_

_"You are wrong. I am acting in my own freedom Father. My freedom to decide for my future. Nothing can dissuade me from what I wish for. I am eighteen years old and I am not bound to obey your will anymore. Not you, the family, or any legacy that you speak of can chain me down. I do not wish to be your heir any longer."_

_"Are you mad? To turn away from the legacy would mean being disowned and completely cutting ties to anyone of your past life! You lose not only your family but of your friends, and even your friend's friends."_

_"Shelby. Dear, your father is right. Are you willing to lose the life you have known for a new one?" the woman known to be her mother pleads beneath the question._

_"Mother...I love you both, but if forsaking a life I had known since forever but had not chosen would gain me the life I desire...then I throw it away. My life of a destiny in legacy shall be no more." She turns around to face them both as she speaks this. Taking a long breath and stealing herself before she opens her mouth to speak again, she utters the words she dreads but knows are necessary, words of finality._

_"Goodbye...to you both." she says in voice that is sincere in its sadness of farewell as she enters the cab that has been waiting for her and watches as the wheels of the car turn and the figures known to her as mother and father become small and distant. She tears her gaze away as she burns the memory in the crevices of her mind. _

_The ones who are left behind knows the depth of the farewell. From this moment on, they would no longer be able to see their daughter any more or be able to speak to her._

_The Corcorans have lost their only daughter. _

_What can they do about it now? Who will continue the legacy? _

_Only the blood of their own can inherit it and no one else._

_However, the only heir to their legacy is gone now ,and only time can tell if there will ever be a next generation. _

_A heir to the family and its secrets._

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><p>"Excuse me! Miss! Mis-Rachel!" A man with grey hair dressed in a black suit rushes forward in order to catch a moment with the girl.<p>

" Rachel Berry! That is you right?" he says as he finally catches up to her and takes a moment steady his breathing.

"Yes? I'm sorry, I don't know who you are but is there anything you need from me?" Rachel turns around to face the man in question.

The man takes a good look at her appearance as if to make sure that she is his target. He takes note of her face and the outfit she is wearing. Clad in a black sweater with a design of an owl printed on the front along with a signature red short skirt and knee socks, Rachel waits for the man's response.

Realizing he had been staring, he clears his throat before he starts and the man offers a hand to shake as he begins introducing himself.

"Yes. Of course, Forgive me for my rudeness. I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Sebastian Wellington. I wish to speak to you about important business. _Family_ business."

Rachel hesitantly accepts it and offers a quick shake.

"It is nice to meet you Mr. Wellington. My name is Rachel. Rachel Berry, and if anything about your calls tells me...then you knew my name beforehand and I'm sorry but if this pertains to family then surely my fathers would be more than willing to accommodate you on the matter. I am still a minor and I don't think...well I have limited power on certain issues."

"No. Your fathers cannot help me as much as you can. Of course, they will be made known to the situation but that is only after I speak with you. You are after all my main priority and not them. To make myself clearer to you and in short...I work for you. More specifically your grandfather, Richard Corcoran. **You**,by extension hold power over me by relevance."

The man is met with a shocked and confused expression from the tiny diva as she is rendered speechless.

'This is going to take some time to explain.' The man sighs as he slowly grabs the brunette by the elbow and leads her somewhere where they can talk.

"Come with me and I'll explain everything to you."

"I-don't quite understand but very well." Rachel says and she nods in acceptance as she thinks that the only way to get answers to her questions would be if she followed this strange man.

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><p><em>Please Review :)<em>


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Hey guys, I'm really sorry for the very long delay. I really don't have much of an excuse. A lot of things just got in the way including how my laptop got destroyed and how long I had to wait to get it back. This chapter was supposed to be longer but my files got corrupted thanks to my faulty laptop. I've been thinking of putting this on a hiatus, what do you guys think?

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><p>To one Richard Corcoran, he has been nothing but redundant when he thinks of that fateful day. It has been around twenty years since he had last seen his daughter. He thinks, feels, and questions a lot of what happened back then and they are mostly the same kinds of things that have plagued him for the past twenty years. Things such as the feelings of regret, pain,anger, and helplessness he had, <em><strong>he still has <strong>_for having to watch his daughter leave.

It would be a lie to say that he only thinks of her sometimes.

In fact, he thinks of Shelby all the time. So much so that he couldn't help but compare her to the person he is looking at now. Shelby was but a year or two older (the last time he saw her)than the girl in the photograph that he was currently holding. That was just about how long he had waiting for this. The time that he would finally be able to take the chance to meet _**his granddaughter, his heir. **_

The name of the child and her face is something that he tries to forever imprint on his memory as he gazes longingly at the photo that the investigator he hired had given to him, along with other information about her.

"Rachel..." he tests saying the name on his lips as he whispers it to himself and continues to read everything about her; things like her birthday to the gay couple who were her father or the school she is currently attending.

"My granddaughter. We shall meet...soon...soon." he says almost like a promise he makes to himself.

_Rachel Berry had woken up that Monday morning with much enthusiasm. During the weekend she prepared a list of potential songs that the glee club could perform. She couldn't wait to present them all to Mr. Schuester and the rest of the members of New Directions. So she naturally came into the halls of McKinley High with a little skip in her steps and swing to her hips as she walked her way to her locker. Her good mood would be obvious to anyone paying attention to the small brunette as she hummed a variety of songs that were no doubt part of the list she composed of. _

_Quinn Fabray had definitely noticed it as she watched the brunette pass by and practically skip her way towards the library like little red riding hood. It was while she had been rummaging her locker when she noticed the small diva. Not that she'd ever admit that she actually gives the diva even a fraction of her attention._

"I don't understand. What do you mean that his hands were tied?"

"Rachel, it is your decision...but...well...You're going to find that the Corcoran Family is bound by a certain set of rules. Rules, that you have yet to know or begin to understand. Your paternal grandfather was chained to obey them, regardless of his strong feelings of giving up on his daughter."

"Shelby had made the decision to cut everyone out, her family and friends included. She did so in order for her start anew. Despite her parents attempts to dissuade her from doing so, She felt that it was the only way to gain real freedom. My employers, Mr. Mrs. Corcoran loved...no...still love their daughter very much. They would have supported her dreams. However, it is sad to say that she felt that their support came with a price that she was unwilling to pay."

"Being their only daughter, had high expectations for her including that she uphold certain traditions. Shelby was a bright and brilliant girl. She was extremely exceptional at everything she put her mind into especially the performing arts. But she was quite a firecracker, that girl. She loved being too spontaneous at certain occasions that weren't well quite proper." he chuckles as if to hint.

"Quite the troublemaker." he said with amusement twinkling in his eyes.

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><p><em>Please Review :)<em>


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** So I'm on a one week sembreak from school right now and had a feeling of finally writing again. Granted, this chapter is more like a warm up for me since it has been awhile. The plot will be moving faster in the next chapter though.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

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><p>It all seemed too unreal for Rachel.<p>

Everything happened in such a short time that she felt like she was in some sort of tv drama. Granted, she had admitted once that she appreciated drama after all, being the diva that she is. But this was something that she didn't really know how to process. For some reason unknown to her, Shelby was some sort of heir to a rich family and for whatever reason there is, they seemed to be convinced that she was a suitable replacement heir.

Even as the man before her recounted a tale of how Shelby somehow set fire to a business associate's hair during a formal dinner, she couldn't help but zone out in utter confusion. What exactly did this mean for her anyway? and what kind of rules and traditions were Shelby so against of that she cut her family off from her life?

And of all the questions Rachel could come up with, There was one other thing that plagued her mind, the thought that all she wanted was an ordinary Monday.

Boy, what she'd give for her usual slushie facial instead of this right now.

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><p><strong>Meanwhile...<strong>

The sound of the bell signaled the end of the last of the classes as McKinley's halls were swarmed with overeager high school students trying to make their way as fast as they can to the exit. Most of the student body were either making their way home or to their other plans out of school. The rest however, stayed for their extracurricular activities. One of which involved a certain blonde ex-cheerleader who was making her way to the choir room for glee.

Quinn Fabray was having a pleasant day so far, pleasant but truthfully quite a boring day. Granted she couldn't help but feel that something was seriously off all day but she just shrugged it off as she was looking forward to glee. What she didn't expect when she arrived to the choir room however was the absence of a certain small diva. She scanned the room and of course saw the usual scene. Mercedes and Kurt gossiping, Sam, Puck, and Artie playing riffs on their guitars, Tina and Mike arguing about what seemed to be Chinese Food, Lauren munching on a candy bar watching them with an amused expression, Finn banging on the drums, and Santana and Britt giggling about something unimportant. But there wasn't any sight of Rachel Berry anywhere.

Glancing at her wrist watch, she realized that glee was supposed to start five minutes ago. It was unusual for Rachel to be late unless of course she was doing something productive in relation to glee...which would just mean a dramatic entrance or so. But there really isn't anything to be fussing about lately since competitions are months away. Not that she was worried or anything. After all, why would she care about "Manhands" Berry? But seriously, where was that girl?

**Then it struck her.**

She and Rachel always shared a few classes together because they both had AP classes. But aside from this morning before classes she hadn't seen the diva all day? No wonder she felt something was wrong. Rachel had always been proud of her perfect attendance record. For bloody sake, she went to class with a 100 degree fever last year!

Something is definitely not right if the overachieving Rachel Berry suddenly decided to cut classes and possible glee as well.

And for some reason, Quinn finally admitted to herself that that was actually something that a part of her was a tiny tiny bit worried about.

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><p><strong>AU: okay so this chapter is just an insight on Rachel and Quinn's thoughts. No real movement or anything in the plot aside from the fact that Quinn might be playing some sort of role in the story. Tell me what you think.<strong>

_Reviews Please :)_


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

Hello everyone, I know I have not updated this fic in years, I seriously apologize to the readers who were once eagerly anticipating the progress of the story during it's early days. I know how it feels when an author suddenly drops a story you would have liked to follow.

In all honesty, I was not in a good place when I wrote the story and I had to deal with a lot of transitions after posting the last chapter years ago. It's sad, but the 4th chapter was actually written only a day or two after the 3rd. Unfortunately, a virus ate through the document. So with a lot of problems I had to overcome that year right after the summer I posted the story, I had been unable to continue writing.

Anyway, by the time I did consider looking back at this story, I had lost all of the flow of what I wanted to do with the story and the show had progressed so fast and to a point that I just wasn't interested anymore by he time the original casts' graduation happened a long while back.

It was as if I had graduated on the show as that had happened.

Still I had liked the concept of what I wanted this story to be about. Unfortunately, I was trying to base the story on the pace of the show back then, so I got completely lost in how I was going to continue this story. Which is why I had placed it on DISCONTINUED mode a while back.

Now though, I'm relearning how to write once more and I've been thinking of re-conceptualizing the story so it actually has a chance to live once more. Granted, it's going to be a whole AU and I'd probably have to push the timeline towards the senior year.

So with that in mind, I'd like to ask my old readers. Those who are still interested in this story enough to read this once the alert comes out,

**Should I or Should I not continue writing this story?**

It took me a while to think this through, and I had thought that maybe I should just scrap this story and re-write it into a new different way. But then I realize that I do like how it is and I don't mind having to continue where I left off.

So tell me if you still want to read more on this story.

If no one thinks it's worth continuing anymore, then I have no problems in not going through with it.

Scraping it is a choice I have seriously taken into consideration. However, a small part of me still thinks I'd love to go back and write this once more.

**So I'm honestly letting my former readers decide on that.**

Hit the comment section and tell me what you think.

Tell me if I should forge on or just put the pen sword back into it's scabbard on this one.

Again, thank you for once reading my work and I apologize for the late update.

I look forward to any replies. Thank you in advance.

-saemi-san


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